The Reflection of Haruhi Suzumiya
by GuavaJam
Summary: The SOS brigade gets disbanded. The literary club room is empty. What is going to happen to Haruhi and the brigade members? The last chapter is here! If you enjoy the story, come back 9/27 for a new story continuing from this one - The Replacement of Yuki Nagato!
1. Chapter 1

It was 3 weeks from the upcoming SOS brigade anniversary and I had no clue what to get for our fearless leader still. With all the craziness going around me, why did I not cheat a little and take a peek when I had a chance, and spared me the unnecessary misery? Little did I know at the time, however, that figuring out what present to get would be the least of my worries for what was about to happen.

The day started off pretty normal. Spring was upon us and the weather was nice. After school all the SOS brigade members gathered in the literary club room doing our usual activities, which was not really much to be honest. Haruhi was busy plotting the next activity. Nagato was reading. Ms Asahina was taking turn between serving tea and doing some cleaning around the room in her maid outfit. Koizumi and I were playing chess. All's going well, until we had surprise visitors.

The student council president, who for some reason no one seemed to call him by his name, along with Ms Kimidori, entered the club room. I glanced at Koizumi, thinking I would see a satisfying expression on his face hinting he's brought the fake president he hired to come up with some new crazy schemes to keep Haruhi busy. Instead, he had an unexpected look, which was in itself unexpected to me. Should I start worrying?

Haruhi got up from her chair and greeted them in her typical unfriendly manner towards the president, 'What do you want? Are you here to challenge us again with something demanding and stupid?'

The president calmly began, 'Good afternoon. I will keep this unpleasant visit brief. As the student council president, I hereby exercise my authority as given to me in our written school club regulations, order you to disband the SOS brigade immediately. You are required to vacate this club room as soon as possible. Surrender the keys to the room to Ms Kimidori here.'

Haruhi fired back, 'What? I had never heard of such regulations! There is no way you have such authority.'

'Yes I do. I have a copy of the updated school club regulations here with me. You can have it. Take it and read it at your leisure.' He tossed a folder on the table.

Haruhi fought back defiantly, 'What is the reason for disbanding my club?'

'I don't need one. I already said it. The recently revised school club regulations granted the student council president authority to create and remove clubs as he sees fit. But if you insist -' He tossed the other folder he was holding on the table. Boy was this man prepared. 'Keep that too. Rest assure I have the originals.'

Haruhi picked up the folders, flipped through a few pages, then the other. There's an expression I had never seen on her - she looked... defeated. Looks like he got something real solid there in those folders. I asked Haruhi to hand me the folders but she just stood there, silent. I got up and walked over to her trying to take a peek, instead she closed and threw them to the ground before I got there.

Her head lowered, and finally said slowly. '... So this is blackmail then.'

'Don't be ridiculous. You have only you to blame. If you wish to file for an appeal, you are free to try, but do that somewhere else. Leave this room now. Anyways, this wraps up my reason to be here, and I have something else to attend to. Ms Kimidori, I will let you finish the eviction.'

Koizumi and Ms Asahina were both stunned by what just happened. Partly because we had to be evicted. Partly because no one had ever seen Haruhi looked defeated like this before, without an ounce of effort left to fight back. Nagato, on the other hand, looked calm… okay, that's not fair for me to say. I often could not read her pretty poker face, even when my own thoughts were not flying all over the places.

As the student council president began to walk out of the room, Koizumi finally got up from the chair and followed him. I was hesitant about what I should be doing. I felt I should go with Koizumi instead of staying with Haruhi and the girls for some reason. Perhaps he would need a backup in case a fight broke out? Or perhaps I felt the answers we're seeking weren't in the club room - sure there were two folders with some answers in there but I was sure those were cover-ups for the real reason. Don't get me wrong, even though I did not utter too many words so far, my heart was beating fast, and was I ready to put up a fight if it came down to it. It felt like we had just been attacked, our sacred sanctuary was mercilessly ripped from us. I knew Koizumi was definitely in a fighting mood. He had to feel like his subordinate just betrayed him, someone who was given a harmless acting job and suddenly he thought he was the real deal.

I uttered something to Haruhi and Ms Asahina about staying calm, we'd be doing some man-to-man talk and be right back… then dashed out.

Koizumi caught up with the student council president at the stairs two stories below, and I caught up with them shortly after. Koizumi was furious, which immediately told me that disbanding the club was not one of his schemes, since he had no reason to pretend with just me around. 'What do you think you are doing? Why are you doing this without the organization's approval? You better have a good reason behind this.' Koizumi continued to walk up to his face as the president kept backing away and was about to be cornered. The student council president told him to back off, but Koizumi kept walking.

What the student council president did next was beyond my comprehension, even for a veteran of paranormal phenomenon like me. He created a small-size energy ball in the palm of his right hand, nearly identical to what Koizumi conjured up when fighting the giant cricket, and hit Koizumi in the stomach. However, we were not in a closed space or alternate dimension - we were in normal space as far as we could tell. How was this possible? Furthermore, Koizumi never said the president was an esper to me. Was he one or was he not? Koizumi was completely unprepared, the energy ball hit his abdomen, he stumbled backwards and nearly fell off the stairs.

'How was that possible?' Muttered Koizumi, clearly hurting. That energy ball packed a real punch.

'Koizumi,' the president fixed his shirt and continued, 'Do not challenge me again.' He began to walk away.

Seeing that we were in no position to get the answer at this point, I held Koizumi up and told the president, 'Fine, we are leaving, but don't think this is over. We still demand a satisfactory explanation.' I turned to Koizumi and said, 'Let's go back to the club room. The other brigade members need us.'

The student council president looked annoyed and calmly said, 'I will not waste any more time with you on the matter. We ordered the club terminated, which is within my authority, and that is that.'

Koizumi did not resist my suggestion. I could tell he was injured pretty badly, and he was in no shape for further confrontation. If Koizumi was pulling a trick to try to fool me also for realism, he had to be acting at 150 percent, maybe going for an acting award in order to go this far. I held Koizumi and walked up the stairs - the burden on my shoulders felt unbearable. What were we going to say to the girls? That we not only achieved nothing, but Koizumi got beaten up and humiliated? When we reached the club room door, Koizumi asked me to let go as he wanted to walk inside by himself. He did not want the ladies to worry about him. I couldn't help but have a sense of respect for this guy.

'Well Kyon, to be honest I have no idea what is going on right now, but I will try find out more when I speak with the organization later today. If that man has gone rogue, it is entirely my fault and I take full responsibility. Right now let's calm the girls as best as we can. Shall we?'

I agreed. I opened the door just as Ms Kimidori was leaving the club room, keys in her left hand. She bowed politely and left.

'Wait, Ms Kimidori,' I said, 'Could you tell us anything?'

Ms Kimidori said, 'Sorry I don't have anything to say. Have a good evening.' Were you kidding me? I felt frustrated, but I was not about to turn nasty to a girl though. I supposed it was all the president's evil idea. I did not give up and asked, 'Could you do anything?'

She thought for a moment and said, 'Sorry, but feel free to file for an appeal.' Then she left.

Haruhi was standing near the window and staring out, with her hands on her hips. Maybe she's trying to appear strong. Nagato was standing as well, next to her usual reading chair. She was looking at me. I could not read her expression. Perhaps it was just her 'observing' face...

'Koizumi, are you hurt?' We were caught off guard by Ms Asahina's question. Koizumi definitely was walking funny even as he tried hard not to show it. Haruhi turned around and noticed it too. 'What have you done? Did you get into a fight?' Haruhi sounded concerned.

'Sorry Ms Suzumiya, I took a punch in my guts but I am really okay, please don't worry about me.' Koizumi forced his trademark smiling face. I could see a drip of sweat rolling down his forehead - it hurt him to even smile.

'Mikuru, get the first aid kit please. Koizumi, let me check on you.'

Perhaps Koizumi's injury was a blessing in disguise, I thought to myself selfishly. It took Haruhi's mind off losing her brigade for at least a few minutes. Her nursing personality was definitely way better than her I-was-the-center-of-the-world personality.

I asked, 'What happened earlier with Ms Kimidori? I thought she was supposed to make sure everyone's out of here.'

Haruhi said, 'I told her we needed time to move the stuff out. She agreed after I gave her the keys to the room.'

Haruhi continued, 'The bruise looks bad, Koizumi. What did he hit you with, a bowling ball?'

Koizumi forced a smile and said, 'He just got lucky. I was running down the stairs and I saw him a few steps below me, but then I tripped and my stomach landed on his fist.' What a joker.

Shortly after Koizumi received a treatment with rubbing oid and assured us no ribs were broken, the group discussed what to do with the club items, and we agreed to take the stuff to our homes, with a big omission - Haruhi said we were not to take the computers. I had a suspicion that the folder Haruhi regarded as 'blackmail' contained evidence the student council president obtained when Haruhi got the desktop from the computer club. The irony of 'what goes around comes around'...

We were pretty quiet the rest of the time. Ms Asahina carried her various costumes. Haruhi carried the tea set and cookware, Nagato carried a few books that were added after our occupation, and I had to carry the heater, the sports equipment and another box of miscellaneous items, with Koizumi earning a free ride. As we walked out of the school front gate that day, it felt like we had been expelled from school.


	2. Chapter 2

I could not eat my dinner at all. My sister looked slightly concerned at first, but quickly stopped worrying for my mother had made the food we both loved - so naturally she was overjoyed when she found out she could have my share too.

It was around 9pm when I received the anticipated phone call from Koizumi, saying everyone except Haruhi were to meet up for a quick meeting. We met at the area where we had our meeting at the park we once met over 15 thousand times.

Koizumi started, 'Thanks for coming. As you know, we have a very serious situation here. After taking some time to gather information within my organization and have a bit of thinking, I will now share my information with you what I know so far, then, we should come up with a plan on how we should approach Ms Suzumiya for the upcoming days. To start, yes there have been several closed spaces appearing since and my colleagues have been handling them. None of them appeared to be worse than what we had dealt with before, so I would say Haruhi's been holding up well so far. Second, no one in my organization has admitted to masterminding the plan. Third, the student council president is not acting alone as he said to Kyon and me that "we wanted the club terminated". Lastly, we have no prior knowledge of him having esper power, and as far as I could tell, we were not inside closed space, so I have not yet figured out how he was able to use esper power in normal space. To be clear, I am not saying that I have cleared everyone under the organization, but we have to also look at groups or individuals we may or may not have encountered before. A few of my trusted members in the organization have been appointed to investigate. This is all I have for the time being. Would anyone have anything to bring up?'

There was only silence.

Koizumi pushed forward, 'Ms Nagato, do you have anything for us?'

Nagato replied, 'No.'

'Are we able to tell if we are dealing with some new enemies?'

'I am not aware of any new enemies.'

'How about old enemies?'

'No.'

'Are you detecting any signs of danger perhaps?'

'There is no immediate danger to anyone's life.'

It's my turn. 'Nagato, have you spoken with Ms Kimidori, or the Data Integration Thought Entity? Do they know what is going on?'

Nagato, 'I was instructed to keep observing at the moment.'

I said, 'Haruhi could destroy the whole world subconsciously in her sleep, and there may be nothing left to observe.''

Nagato, 'The Data Integration Thought Entity has determined the risk level is well within controllable parameters.'

Controllable parameter? I asked, 'What would happen if I get trapped in the closed space with Haruhi again?'

'You got out before.'

'Yeah, but how would I know if pulling the same trick would work.'

Nagato, 'It would.'

Such confidence. Wish I had some of that.

I turned to Ms Asahina and asked, 'Ms Asahina, do you have anything you have from the future that you can share?'

'Nothing that I know of. Sorry, I hope I can be more helpful.'

No worries, Ms Asahina, I supposed if something was important enough, Asahina (adult) would turn up and offer help.

I asked, 'Does anyone know what was in the folders?'

Ms Asahina's face suddenly turned bright red.

Nagato said, 'They were pictures with Mikuru Asahina and the computer president that Ms Suzumiya took, and there were pictures of Haruhi Suzumiya unbuttoning Mikuru Asahina in her maid uniform that you took.'

Great. I knew those pictures could one day came back to haunt us… but wait, how did the student council president obtain those pictures? Especially the extortion photos… I thought they were never uploaded. Still, it was partially my fault to go along with Haruhi's hairy scheme, so it would probably be a good time to change subject.

I said, 'So what should we be doing about Haruhi?'

Koizumi began, 'The next few days will be most crucial. In fact, I imagine the worst that can happen will happen tonight. I suggest we pay her a visit at her home and tell her something to calm her down now.'

'You are always the one that is good at convincing people with wild explanations. What do you have in mind?'

'Oh, I was hoping this would be a collaborative effort. But for starters, I think we need to find a temporary place to meet after school, and convince her the SOS Brigade can survive outside the school without the club room.'

Nagato said, 'We can use the empty room in my apartment.' Funny she mentioned it, for the literary club room was originally hers too.

'Could you set it up to look like the club room?'

Nagato paused for a moment. 'Furniture construction complete.' Whoa!

'OK… Ms Asahina, Kyon, leave what you wish to bring to the temporary club room in front of your homes in the morning and I'll have them delivered to Ms Nagato's apartment. Shall we call Ms Suzumiya that we are heading over?'

Nagato said, 'Kyon, lend me your phone. Let me call Haruhi Suzumiya.'

Didn't she have a phone? It was a bit odd she volunteered, but I would not try to argue with wise Nagato. In a way, I supposed Nagato would be more convincing than me to ask for a meeting with Haruhi at this late hour.

Nagato called then hung up the phone and said, 'She is not picking up.'

Koizumi said, 'This could mean trouble. Let's hurry up and go anyways.'

Nagato handed me my phone back and said, 'Keep your phone safe.'

Although Koizumi and Nagato probably knew where Haruhi lived, I only knew recently because of my time jump. We arrived at her house and we got to the side of the house where her bedroom was. I threw a pebble at her bedroom window. Please be there?

She opened her window and was surprised to see us. 'What are you doing here this late? And how do you know where I live? I never told you before.'

I explained for the group, 'We tried calling you and you did not pick up, so we got worried and decided to check on you. Anyways we got your address from the student attendance list.'

'Oh. Oh, well. I am doing fine. Hey… I am not in the mood to talk… We can talk tomorrow at school, is that ok? Thanks for coming though.'

I looked at Koizumi and he looked at me. Should we say something important and who should say it? I decided there's no time to waste so I said, 'Hey Haruhi, the group has decided we should have a temporary place to meet. Nagato already agreed we could use her apartment for the time being as our club room, and we can start with pitching ideas on how to make the club official at school again and get the club room back. What do you think?'

Haruhi thought for a second, and said, 'You guys don't have to do that to keep me happy you know.'

She sounded like she was actually thinking about giving up. I said, 'No, Haruhi, as SOS brigade members it is our true wish that the SOS brigade continues. You have created something special and we would follow your lead to the ends of the world.'

She let out a small laugh. 'That sounds corny… but thank you. Okay, we can have the meeting at Yuki's place tomorrow. Good night. Go home and be safe.' She closed her window. She did not sound convinced to me. I wondered if we failed.

Koizumi said, 'Well, well, Kyon, look at you taking charge. Pardon me for not chiming in, but you should know by now Haruhi listens to you the most when things are on the line. I guess we are done here… Let's hope your valiant effort is effective, and nothing Earth-shattering is going to happen.'

We went our separate ways. As I got to the door of my house I got a light tap on my left shoulder. I was a bit startled to be touched by someone from behind this late in the night, but was relieved to see Ms Asahina (adult) there. She's here to help us. Always great when the future cared enough about the present and lent us a hand.

'Hello Kyon, sorry about the late visit. I know you had a long day but this is the time you can be found undisturbed. This won't take long. I have something for you.'

She handed me a small box the size of half a shoe box.

'What is it?'

'You'll find out when you open it. No rush, you won't need it tonight.'

'Okay… just curious. Why don't you just leave it somewhere with a note, instead, you have to hand deliver it?''

'Because it is important it gets to you. There is a chance that… without it... one of you may not make it out alive. It is my personal wish that the person lives.'

That sounded worrisome. Running the names through my head, my instinct said she was referring to Koizumi.

'But Nagato just told us the risk of something dangerous was low. If you say otherwise, does that mean you are telling me stuff Nagato cannot foretell? Is what you are doing here is considered inputting data to ensure the future?'

Ms Asahina gave me a smile. 'I am not supposed to say too much. But just for your information, this,' pointing at the box, 'was your idea. You were the one who told me to return it to you when the time's right. I am certain you can figure things out.'

'Is there any other clue you can give me, like Snow White or something to escape the closed space, in case I get trapped in one?'

Ms Asahina thought for a while and smiled again. She said, 'About closed space... I think you are fully capable of dealing with it on your own. You did say something cryptic once, it went something like this… Sometimes you have to lose...'

'What?'

'...Then you shook your head, and said never mind. That's all I have.'

I bid farewell with Ms Asahina. Fair enough, I suppose without Ms Asahina instructing me on which choices I should make, I didn't have the pressure to follow exact orders and risked missing them thus changing history for the worse, instead I was allowed to fail spectacularly on my own(?)… it gave me a headache thinking about it.

I got up to my room, put my pajamas on and got into bed and then the dreaded call came. It was Koizumi, the Haruhi weatherman.

'Kyon, it happened. The closed space.'

'What about it?'

'Ms Suzumiya has disappeared from our world. Nagato has confirmed it.'

'But I am still here…'

'Yes I know. She is by herself. She did not have anyone with her in the closed space.'


	3. Chapter 3

Koizumi called and informed me that Haruhi was inside the closed space by herself.

I said, 'Let me guess, you cannot get into that closed space.'

'That is correct.'

Ok. So here we go again, she's trapped in her own closed space, only this time I was not in there to convince her to come back to our world. A kiss would be out of the question… not that I wanted to pull off something that embarrassing again... besides, it might not work a second time.

'So what should I do?...' I asked.

'Nagato said to check your phone.' His line suddenly got cut off. I looked at the phone, and I saw a cursor on the screen. It reminded me of the cursor on the computer screen in the club room when Nagato tried to communicate with me a couple times before. She did something to my phone earlier and she found a way to make a connection between my phone with the computer in the club room inside the closed space, if there was a computer in the club room and Haruhi was actually in there.

There was no time to waste. I would type something and find out.

I wrote, 'Haruhi, are you reading this?'

No response… it was probably seconds but it felt like hours…. until it came back with a reply.

'Who is this? Is this Kyon?'

Yes! It worked. I guessed it was a good thing the first person she thought would make contact was me…. What should I say and how should I say it? I kicked myself for not be more prepared. In my defense, I had been on a roller coaster since the time the student council president crashed our party till my bedtime. The world's fate was once again in my hands. If everyone in the world sent me one yen for saving the world just once, I would have been a millionaire thank you very much. In any case, since she probably thought it was a dream, maybe I should set a lighter tone and play along.

'Yes, it is Kyon. How are you?'

'How are you able to send message through the computer?'

'Oh you know, this is a dream. We can do things in a dream that cannot be explained.'

'I was in one dream like this before.' She continued, 'I am here in the club room, and the sky is dark out. Everything feels so real though.'

'People usually cannot tell when they are dreaming and everything feels real. By the way, you did not invite me to your little adventure this time.'

'So you are the same Kyon from the other dream?'

'Yes, and remember what happened in the end? You woke up from it. I would like to ask you to do the same now. Come back.'

'Come back to where? The club room is gone. The SOS Brigade is no more.'

'Haruhi, didn't we tell you we'd keep the brigade activities going at Nagato's apartment until we found a way to take back the club room? And you agreed too.'

'You are pretty well-informed being the dream-version of Kyon.'

'That's because I am part of your conscience.'

'I suppose so. Like you said, this is a dream, and nothing has to make sense. And you are not the real Kyon.'

Uh oh. That did not sound good. I tried to recover from that, 'I am just as good as the real one - I represent the real Kyon inside your head. So just listen to me, ok? You cannot be stay in that world.'

She paused for a long time. I thought I was losing her. This was bad.

'Hello, Haruhi?'

'Kyon, the giants from last time have returned. I am going to take a closer look and you are not going to stop me this time. Good-bye.'

'Wait, Haruhi.' No response. 'Haruhi?'

She lost interest in talking to me and had probably left the club room. I didn't know how to contact her anymore. I thought perhaps it's time to check what Ms Asahina (adult) gave me. I quickly opened the box she gave me, only to find a camcorder inside. It appeared to be the same model as the one we had. The battery was dead though, and it would take time for me to find its charger and plug it in. It would probably not help in this situation, as Ms Asahina did say I would not need it right away... But how long was 'right away'? Right away as in right-that-moment away, or right-after-you slept-ten-minutes-away, or right-after-a-day-away? I wished she could have been more specific. My head started spinning. The good news was my head would not spin for long since the end of the world was quickly approaching.

Just as I had made peace with myself, my phone rang and I jumped. It was Nagato. Thank goodness. Before Nagato could say anything, I said, 'Nagato, I lost contact with Haurhi. What should I do?'

'Call her cell phone. It will reach her. By the way, Itsuki Koizumi wanted me to tell you that he's on his way to your place and should be there shortly. We are running out of time. You need to call Haruhi Suzumiya now.'

'Understood.'

'Kyon, this could be our last communication channel to her. Please succeed. Bye.'

I was not sure yet what Koizumi could do, but there was little time to think things through and I supposed I could use all the support I could get. I dialed Haruhi's number and shortly after she picked up.

Haruhi said, 'Hey it's you again, I don't even know I have my cell phone with me. What a detailed dream world this is, don't you think?'

'Hey Haruhi, we are running out of time. Please come back.'

'Come back. Come back. You sound like a broken record Kyon.'

I heard something small hit my window. I looked outside, it was Koizumi. That was fast.

Haruhi continued with an exciting voice, 'Oh hey, you know what I am doing now? I am standing a few steps away in front of one of the giant creatures, and he looks awesome up close! His body is kind of transparent but it is as if I'm looking deep into the galaxy or something. I think he's trying to communicate with me! I can feel his warm aura… and he's not scary at all! I feel… I have a connection with him.'

While Haruhi was busy talking I quickly went and let Koizumi in and went back up to my bedroom.

'Can't you remember? Those giant monsters are dangerous! They smashed up the school. They were smashing up the school while we were inside the school and we were running for our lives. You are in grave danger.'

'I don't think he will hurt me.'

'Famous last words, Haruhi, don't be naive.'

'Besides, I'm in a dream, remember?'

But it was not a dream, Haruhi. Was it the time to tell her the truth? I stared at Koizumi - would he stop me from pulling my trump card? No time to think.

'Haruhi, listen to me carefully, this is very important… the truth is, if you do not return, everyone here would… the world was going to -' Koizumi pushed a finger over my lips, preventing me from talking. He shook his head. I supposed he felt either Haruhi would be too unstable right now to hear the truth or she would remain unconvinced. Still, boy was I annoyed by his finger over my mouth.

I supposed I had to make up a story then…. 'Haruhi, the truth is, you are currently in a coma lying in a bed and we're here standing around you… we are all worried sick about you. Does not matter if you think I am the real Kyon or your subconscious making me up, okay? The real me is standing right next to you right now, talking to you. We want you to come back, but you have to be the one willing to make it happen! We have been by your bedside 24/7, just as you did for us when you took care of me and Nagato. We would not leave until you come back, you hear?'

It might sound pretty unbelievable but it was still more believable than the real situation.

Haruhi said, 'I never feel this content before… Kyon, you know, if I am indeed in a coma, I want you to know, I will miss the brigade. However, this is where I have always wanted to be. This is where everything is not boring. This is the world I want…'

'But what about us? You don't care about any of us? That, that is selfish of you. That is not like you. The Haruhi I know, after all that we've been through the past year, will take care of her brigade members. She goes all in and makes sure she gives her 120% to the brigade. And what about the student council president? We still have a score to settle with him! Are you conceding defeat? The Haruhi I know will never concede defeat to someone like him!' I was throwing everything but the kitchen sink as my last effort.

'Kyon.'

'Yes?'

'Thanks for everything. Thanks everyone for me. Mikuru, Koizumi, Yuki, Ms Tsuruya… Good-bye, Kyon, or dream-version Kyon. I'll... miss you the most.'

She hung up. What was she thinking? Why anyone who had a choice to stay or leave a coma would choose to stay was beyond my imagination. Perhaps that's the problem. I lacked true imagination, and I did not understand what Haruhi truly wanted. Koizumi saw my face and he knew things did not go well. He was silent for a while then he said, 'If you could not convince Ms Suzumiya, no one could.'

'You did not let me tell her the truth!'

'The truth would not have worked. I was fairly certain it was the wrong time to tell her.'

Was that it? Nagato was so confident earlier that the risk was low. Would the chance of a meteor hitting the Earth and wiping out humanity be considered a low risk to her standard? What should I have said? Was this one of those games you played and tried to solve but the harsh reality was that there was no win-win situation? I could not give up yet. I closed my eyes and thought about what I said and what Haruhi said. I could not give up… I could not give up… The world needed me and Haruhi... needed... me… An idea popped up.

'Koizumi, you told me earlier you could not get into the closed space. Still, is there an entrance, like a door, to the closed space somewhere?'

'Not exactly an entrance, but there is a weak point between the two dimensions. Normally if there is an entrance, that is where it will be.'

'Take me there.'

'Aye aye.'

'Summon the entire organization of yours and have them meet us there. I am going to ask Nagato to come too. I have an idea which I don't know if it will work, But we have nothing to lose.'

'An idea that you have no idea if it will work - Sounds like a great plan. Let's do it.'

Haruhi, please wait!

The closed space entrance was about 5 minutes away in the middle of a street, thanks to Mr Arakawa giving us a ride, plus Koizumi commented the entrance had moved since the closed space had expanded. Nagato was already there, along with many faces from the organization I had not seen before.

I got out of the car and said to them, 'Listen, I needed all of you to try to use your power to help open the entrance just enough for me to speak to Haruhi.'

Koizumi said, 'Kyon, we have no power outside of the closed space, and we don't know exactly how to open the entrance.'

I said, 'That is not true when you say you have no power outside. You can sense the entrance. You know who gave you the esper ability. Those _are_ powers. Now I need you to think hard, imagine hard and believe you can open the entrance. Open it, tunnel it, whatever. Just a little will do.'

'Are you finally going to say "I love you?"' Koizumi asked.

Not funny. Oh wait, he looked serious. I would not respond to that.

I turned to Nagato and said, 'Nagato, could you help?'

'I can alter the dimensional phase, amplify their combined energy, and expand the entrance.'

'...Okay, whatever you say sounds great. Do it.'

Nagato said, 'Kyon, wait for my signal.'

Everyone began to look strenuous, as if there was a group of people standing in the middle of the night feeling constipated together. Nagato was mumbling some alien gibberish...

Koizumi said, 'Kyon, it seems to be working, but you are probably going to get 10-15 seconds max. We are counting on you!'

Nagato lifted her right hand. The was a sensation of energy bursting towards me. That had to be the entrance opening up.

'Haruhi, if you've made up your mind to stay in that world, please let me in. I will stay with you.'

'Kyon?' Haruhi replied. We did it, we reached her.

'Yes! It's Kyon.'

'You want to join me here?'

'Yes. I see now that I was selfish. I don't want you to be alone. I will join you instead. I will protect you.'

There's a long pause. The energy I felt slowly died away.

Koizumi said, 'The entrance has closed…'

I screamed, 'Haruhi!'

There was nothing but silence.

Nagato, calm as ever, said, 'Haruhi Suzumiya has returned to our world.'


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up in the morning physically and emotionally exhausted. It had been a long night. After Haruhi returned to our world, Koizumi and clan let out a collective sign and congratulated me for my marvelous save, then Mr Arakawa drove me home. My blood was still circulating my body like I ran a marathon, and I could not sleep until 5 in the morning.

I dragged my body to school, all that time I was wondering why shouldn't any leaders in the world be informed about my heroic deeds and declare a holiday or two in my name. People got holidays named after them for doing much less.

Haruhi did not show up to class and I was slightly concerned. I thought she was over with her crisis moment, so what's going on in her head now? During the break I headed over to Koizumi's classroom and asked if he knew where Haruhi was. He said he's got his men tailing her. She's at the local park near the train station.

'Should I go to her?' I would not need Koizumi's approval, but perhaps I wanted a nudge.

'Go to her. That would cheer up Ms Suzumiya no doubt. You would be doing the world yet another great service. By the way, that was some gutsy thing you said yesterday. For a moment you made me think you were ready to jump ship. You weren't serious about actually joining her, were you?'

'Koizumi, I was serious - at least for that moment. I decided not to go against her wish. Cut me some slack, will you? I was carrying the fate of the whole world on my shoulders with minutes to think. I am not Doraemon or James Bond, I am just a regular Joe. In case you must know, once I joined her, I was going to try my best to contain her new world from destroying this world so you and everyone else could continue to live joyously. Does it sound good enough to you?'

Koizumi laughed, 'Please forgive me. We know from the beginning Ms Suzumiya picked you for a reason. You are truly irreplaceable. Long time ago I did wonder why someone frowned and face-palmed as often as you would be able to attract a Goddess and bend her will. She could have anybody, but no sir, she wanted you. By the way, she does not appear to be completely out of the blue yet. Several closed spaces were created since this morning, although none of them were unmanageable. If last night was the surgery, it's time for the therapy, Doraemon. Good news is, we will help.'

I had enough friendly talk with Koizumi. Off I went to the park. It wasn't long before I spotted her on a boat alone in the middle of the lake. She's wearing school uniform. It seemed she planned to go to school but changed her mind last minute. I rented a boat and rowed towards hers.

'Oi!'

Haruhi was surprised to see me. 'Kyon. why are you here and how do you know I am here?' Her tone was not as defiant as the night before.

'I have special powers.'

She frowned, 'Oh, be serious. I am not in the mood.'

'What's the matter? You are always searching for extraordinary people, and when I tell you I have powers you -'

'Because I know you are lying.' Sharp as a knife as always.

'Shouldn't the fact that I went all around town looking for you be enough?'

She went silent.

I said, 'I understand what happened yesterday was probably the lowest point we had ever been, even worse than when we were stranded on an island with a murder mystery to solve. But we will get through this, we always do. So talk to me. I'm all ears.'

It took awhile but she finally began, 'Last night I had a very weird dream. I was in some kind of an alternate world. In fact I had a similar dream before. I felt strongly that was the world I always wanted and I wanted to stay there forever. There were these giant creatures, one of them reached out to me. I could feel the warmth from the giant's hand, but when I reached out and tried to touch it, it was just energy. His hands, his body, were all made of energy.' She paused. 'Then "you" called out to me and said you were going to join me in that world.' It seemed she's still digesting the information. Nagato once said if I could get her out once, I could get her out again. I didn't think Nagato took into consideration that it's been almost a year since the last time, and while Haruhi had fun through the year, she never realized she reached her goal she set forth with starting the club. With the SOS brigade disbanded, she reflected on the past year and probably concluded that she had failed. Her pride was hurt and would not want me see her into her new world. When the giants emerged, it's as if they were giving her a second chance to stay, which was difficult to refuse for her now she had nothing left to lose. I tried to guilt her to return, that only upset her more. Only when I decided to stop fighting and join her, she let go of her 'selfishness' and came back.

'You've read my mind, I would join you in the other world. Because you will need someone to order around.' I said.

'Idiot.' She said, blushing a little. That's the spirit. Man, I couldn't believe I felt happy when someone called me an idiot.

'Kyon, could you tell me the real reason? Even if you are to never see everyone else again? And perhaps the giants are trying to kill us every minute?' She was never this polite.

'Maybe it is because even though I complain a lot around you, I am actually having the best time of my life being with you.'

She smiled as if the smile came from her warmed heart. 'Thank you, That is nice.'

'Don't mention it.'

I continues, 'Haruhi, may I ask you a question too? Why did you give up staying in that world even if I were to join you?'

'Kyon, it was just a dream.'

'What if it wasn't a dream - hypothetically?'

'If you must know, the answer has two parts to it. First, I would not take you with me even if I could, because I knew you made it perfectly clear you wanted to stay in this world.'

'I see. What about the other part?'

'I cannot quite explain it. Say I reach the top of Mount Everest and the scenery is breathtaking. I guess part of the fun actually comes from sharing that experience with others. It is not the same when I witness it alone. Does it make sense?'

'Yes Haruhi, I understand.'

After a short pause, she said, 'Anyways, I think I am done here. I have this uneasy feeling someone's watching me.'

I should tell Koizumi to have his henchmen back off a bit. His organization could have been causing the extra closed spaces they had been dealing with themselves.

'Where should we go?'

'School.'

'That is a very responsible choice.'

We went back to school and finished what classes we had left for the day, and the SOS brigade members met up in front of the school. We headed towards Nagato's apartment, we were actually joking and laughing as we walked. We looked like normal high school students having a good time being normal. Haruhi looked genuinely excited. I had a chance to walk next to Nagato and said, 'Last night was a real close call.'

Nagato nodded.

'Perhaps you overestimated my ability. I failed to convince her after the call. I had no way in telling if our desperate attempt to open the entrance would work. It could be the end of humanity there.'

'You underestimated your ability. You got her out. It was you who did not have faith in yourself.'

Ironically, the only way I could prove her wrong would be if I failed. I could say 'Ha! I told you so!' as we all plummeted into hell… but that would be a steep price to pay to win an argument.

'I hope you are right.' I said.

'I am right.'

'No external forces we have not encountered before at play here?'

'No.'

'Is that so?'

'It is so.'

'My loss that I think so little about myself?'

'Your loss.'

About that last question - I just couldn't help it because I recalled she gave the answer 'your loss' so succinctly before to a question I forgot what it was, possibly something about contradiction caused by time traveling, but it was sort of humorous the way she said it even if she did not do it intentionally. I wanted to here her say it again -

'My loss if I disappear from this world?'

She stopped walking and stared at me. Was she mad about me teasing her? I couldn't read her expression. It was just a joke, Nagato...

'That would be our loss.'

Ok Kyon, shut up.

We arrived at Nagato apartment. Nagato had furnished the room Ms Asahina and I shared frozen in time for 3 years with the club room furniture and everything else, except for the computer. I could see Ms Asahina was not totally comfortable with the room. We sat around the long table, with Haruhi standing at the end of the table, looking upbeat. She gave us a quick talk about the SOS brigade was still alive, that she's still thinking things through, but we should have a city patrol over the weekend just to keep business running as usual. Everyone politely and encouragingly clapped hands and approved. Perhaps as a way to show Haruhi having the meeting as the new place had its perks, Nagato prepared curry for dinner. It was quite a nice touch, although I suspected curry was all that Nagato cooked, so this could get boring quick, and Haruhi hated anything that's boring.

Perhaps because we're at Nagato's apartment, she took the opportunity to thank Haruhi for taking care of her while she was sick. It went pretty well all things considered, and we went home afterwards.

That night I had the camcorder fully charged, and I was ready to check the content. Before that however, I careful inspected the camcorder and confirmed that the camcorder was indeed the same model as the one we had, but it appeared it was cut in half and glued back together - that being said, it could not have just been glued, since electronics did not get repaired by glue...

The camcorder was functional. There was only one video recorded. In the video the student council president and Koizumi faced each other at the school playground. I could tell that it was I who was filming, for I could hear myself loud and clear telling Koizumi to go all out near the beginning of filming. To my surprise, Koizumi was able to put up a force field. He even fought back with his own energy balls. Did Koizumi somehow have this fight in closed space? The recording ended with the club president looking over to my direction and said 'I see. That's how you do it.' I heard Koizumi calling me to watch out, the student council president dashed towards me with his arm raised and the camcorder panned to the right, then a white flash of light filled the screen. The video ended.

Why was Koizumi fighting? How did he pull off his esper moves? Why was Nagato not there to help, or was she there, but not shown?


	5. Chapter 5

If anyone excelled at solving puzzles, coming up with explanations and BS-ing while sounding intelligent, that would be Koizumi. I planned to show him the video from the camcorder during lunch, since after school it would be difficult to get away from Haruhi. I also decided to keep this from Nagato. For some reason I sensed her reluctance in getting involved. I felt that each time I asked her whether there was something to worry about, she always sounded as if it would be a cake walk in the park. Besides, she did not appear in the video, so having her jumping in the middle of the fight did not bode well with the space-time continuum whatchamacallit.

Haruhi showed up to class on time. She's quiet, but I could tell she's over her melancholy self. She's just deep in thoughts.

During the break, by pure chance, I ran into the computer club president. He did not hesitate and asked me, 'Hey, don't mind if I ask… why has your web site been down?'

'Hmm, why are you so interested in our web site?'

'Man, that computer Suzumiya snatched was cutting edge when we bought it last year. It's still cutting edge today. I would rather see it being in use than sitting idle doing nothing.'

I informed him that the SOS brigade was disbanded a few days ago, and all the computers were left behind, shut off, in the literary club room. He looked genuinely surprised by the news. He could not believe someone actually gained an upper hand over Haruhi. I took that opportunity to apologize that we should have told him sooner so he could have the computers back.

He said, 'As much as I hated losing those computers to you, I think I'll wait a little long. Keep them for another week for now. I doubt Suzumiya would give up the club that easily. Right?'

He sounded sincere, and he was probably right. He probably would not want to go through the ordeal of taking back the computer, huddling with his club members and crying tears of joy for the return of their computers, only to lose them again by another diabolical act from Haruhi.

He did not seem to have played a part in disbanding the SOS brigade, but just to be sure, I said, 'You know, the reason why the SOS brigade was disbanded was because pictures from that day when your high end computer was, ahem, removed from your club room, as well as pictures of Ms Asahina in maid outfit that were somewhat inappropriate ended up in the hands of the student council president. You wouldn't have anything to do with that, like, assisting in obtaining them and giving to the student council president?'

A bit of drool appeared on both corners of his mouth, which he quickly wiped dry. 'What maid outfit pictures?' He recovered from his horniness and said, 'Sorry - Whoa, no no no… first, we never got our hands on the camera or the pictures from that horrific day. Second, I never heard or seen any maid outfit pictures. I swear neither I nor any of the computer club members have attempted to hack into your computer…' He paused, then continued, '... since… maybe a couple days after we lost it to Haruhi because… Ms Nagato knows.'

I thanked him. At lunchtime I went over to Koizumi's classroom, then we headed up to the roof to talk. I told him about what the computer club president told me.

'I see. So the computer club played no role in disbanding the SOS brigade. If they were not involved, then someone else had to have the knowledge and technology to obtain those pictures.'

'Nagato said there was no external forces we had not encountered at play here. The computer club president implied that no one could have get by Nagato to get to the pictures from the computer. As for the pictures taken on the day of snatching the computer - I'm not even sure if they are ever developed or put on any computers.'

'A mystery indeed, but I doubt it's too important at the moment. Let's see the video you told me about.'

I played the video for him and I told him where it came from. He replayed it 2 more times, then silence.

'Hmm.' He finally made a sound.

'What did you figure out?'

'Look at my hair. I like how my hair looks and moves in there. I should comb it -'

'What the heck? Can you be serious?'

'Oh come on. Can't you see I am risking my life in there? Least I could do is look good while risking my life. That said, I think I know what's happening here. Things should happen pretty quickly and we should see all or most the puzzle pieces soon.' He pointed out that the time and date of the recorded event was for tomorrow. 'Kyon, I have one favor to ask of you. Do not involve other brigade members into this until we have a more complete picture.'

I agreed but I couldn't help thinking having Nagato at the confrontation would improve our chance of survival… perhaps Koizumi considered it being an organization issue and he had to be the one handling it.

The school day went by just like that and we found ourselves at Nagato's apartment for club gathering, day 2.

Haruhi was full of energy today. Once everyone sat down, she stood in front of everyone, told us to pay attention, took a deep breath and made her announcement. 'Well everybody, I had made my decisions. Even though this is a pretty nice replacement of the literary club room, this isn't the same. The literary club room means something to all of us and the school. The SOS brigade is meant to be a school club - we are helping people at school to solve unexplained cases. It's not right to not be operating at the school. So, I am going to fight and win back the literary club room and re-establish the SOS brigade as a recognized school club.' The flame in her eyes had returned.

Everyone applauded. This was the Haruhi we expected, the fearless leader.

'How would we do that?' I asked.

'I have a plan. I am going to take full responsibility.' With that, she turned to Ms Asahina, bowed and said, 'Mikuru, I am sorry for my behavior last year. I did not treat you respectfully at times.'

Ms Asahina, Koizumi and I were a bit stunned seeing this. Haruhi apologizing? Haruhi acting mature? Was that even possible? I never had cold sweat even when the world was about to end, but just now I felt cold sweat coming down my face. This was chilling. This was unreal.

Ms Asahina did not know what to do, she was more in fear than anything with this version of Haruhi. She awkwardly knocked down the chair she was on when trying to stand, and bowed lower than Haruhi. Haruhi, not going to lose to the bowing competition, bowed lower. Ms Asahina then bowed even lower, and they kept on with it for a few times until their faces were almost touching their knees. Haruhi finally straightened her back, put her hands on Ms Asahina's shoulders, and slowly lifted them up. There's no windows in the room but I swore there's sunlight shining in the background for the beautiful moment… she fixed Ms Asahina's chair, gestured her to sit down, and Ms Asahina obediently did.

Haruhi turned towards us and said, 'I'm also going to apologize to the computer club and return the computers to them myself. I'm also going to speak with the student council president. I will apologize for my past actions and I will promise they will never happen again, and request for the SOS brigade to be made official again.'

More apologies to follow? What had you done to Haruhi, that person who looked like Haruhi standing there? I looked around at the other members. I felt like we're all lost at sea, our fearless pirate captain had just turned into a soft yellow sponge.

I then said, 'Haruhi, that's not like you at all.'

'What does that mean?'

'The Haruhi I know would never apologize, especially to that slimeball student council president!'

Haruhi responded, 'Come on Kyon! Don't you see? He has a problem with me, and as obnoxious as he is, there is no denying he's got me there.'

'And what if he says no? He was pretty clear he wanted us closed down.'

'You forget about my power of persuasion! Last time he caught me off guard, but now I have it all thought out! Worst case scenario, I would turn in my resignation!'

Ms Asahina gasped.

The SOS brigade without Haruhi?... The solar system without the sun? Could the planets rotate around a void, in complete darkness?

'If I have to resign, Kyon, I want you to take over.'

Hit me with a baseball bat please. I bravely uttered the word, 'No…'

Haruhi continued, 'Even though I was the one who came up the idea to create the club, found the room, recruited all the members, wrote the club mission, came up with club activities, on and on… not to mention Koizumi was the vice leader and had way more major contributions than you, you are technically the first brigade member.'

Wow thanks… something's changed but something stayed the same. Perhaps before apologizing to other people, she should apologize to me first for all the crazy things she said and put me through?...

'Don't you run the club into the ground, or I will never forgive you! Do you hear me?'

I could think of nothing better to say at the moment. If this gave her peace for now, so be it. The fact that she sounded like her usual self there gave me a sense of relief. I replied, 'If you insist. Yes ma'am.'

The weird meeting could have ended there, with everyone in joyful tears thinking that our childish leader had grown up at last. Alas, things made a 180 degree turn.

Haruhi said, 'Ok. The next thing I am going to do is dig for dirt into the computer president's past. I will use my new found dirt to make him give us back the computers. I have a feeling he did not treat his girlfriend right. I will start there.'

'Wait, what? Please don't…'

'Then I am going to dig for dirt into the student council president's past, and I swear I won't stop until I find something juicy and have him overthrown. Maybe he stole Ms Kimidori from the computer president? Ooh that must be it! I could smell a scandal already. Just so you know, I am not asking any of you to be involved. Maybe. Maybe not. Let's stick with maybe for now.'

She knelt behind Ms Asahina, put her arms around Ms Asahina and gave her a hug without asking, and said, 'Ooh Mikuru, I am so pumped up! I am so excited just thinking about all those stuff I am about to do to bring the SOS brigade back!'

Face-palm. Haruhi was still Haruhi. She took 2 steps forward, and went 3 steps back.

'Kyon, if I were to resign, it is only temporary. You get that?'

'You can have it back any time.'

'Good.' She had her mischievous grin back.

I later told her I met with the computer president earlier, and he wanted us to keep the computers. There's no need to put him through another traumatic event. 'Good.' That's her reply.

After the meeting's over, we had another serving of Nagato's curry with rice. I could tell Haruhi was one curry dinner away from taking over dinner planning if this continued.

After dinner we said our goodbyes and left Nagato's apartment. Koizumi caught up with me.

'How about that? Ms Suzumiya's going to make you brigade leader if she resigned. That reason she gave sounded so forced. Don't you think?'

'Oh please. Is that really what you worry about the most? She probably wants me to be the leader so it will be easier when she wants it back.'

Koizumi laughed, 'Come now, we know the real reason she picked you over everyone else. All of us getting promoted would have given it back in a heartbeat.'

I did not replay. It seemed he had had enough fun teasing me as well.

He said, 'Well, we now know that Ms Suzumiya is moving forward to bringing SOS brigade back to school. We know either Ms Suzumiya does not get to talk to the president, or her conversation fails to achieve its goals. Otherwise there is no reason for me to fight him. I believe we should have the conversation first thing tomorrow with the president, avoid Ms Suzumiya from talking to him, and set things in motion in our favor. Regarding the fight, I have a plan. Here's what I need you to do…' He then went on to explain the plan to me.

I said, 'Are you confident you can win this? We do not know how the fight ends.'

Koizumi said, 'It is like a chess game; I study the opponent's predictability. I saw the type of moves he made, the mindset he's in. I also saw the moves I could make. From that, I have come up with a pretty good idea on how I could beat him, as long as I finish it quickly.'

'There is just one thing about the plan. Are you sure about Nagato?' I turned to look at the apartment, and noticed Nagato watching us from far, outside her room. I wondered if she could hear us. I did not hear Koizumi's answer.

'Ms Nagato knows' - Those words from the computer president came to my mind. Did she?


	6. Chapter 6

In the morning, Koizumi and I got to school early as planned, hid behind the school gate and waited for the student council president.

'Are you sure you want to go through with the fight?' I asked.

'The video indicated that the fight was a set event, an event as confirmed to have happened from the future's point-of-view. To avoid it would change history and we lose the advantage of knowing what we know.'

'I understand, but we do not know how it will end. It could end bad for us'

Koizumi smiled, 'Don't be so negative. Think about it like a jigsaw puzzle. Even if I am missing a few pieces, I have seen enough to visualize the complete picture. Besides, we are the good guys. Things will go our way.'

As if it was on cue, things immediately did not go our way. We were to talk to the student council president before Haruhi, but as soon as we saw the student council president approaching the school gate, Haruhi was catching up with him from behind.

'What do we do, Koizumi?'

'We will have to let them talk first then… Let's not intervene.'

We stayed hidden from their view and watched from far. Haruhi began the conversation with the student council president. Next we witnessed something truly cringing - she took a deep breath, as if to swallow her pride, and bowed, with people passing by to witness. Oh Haruhi, if only she knew what we already knew. Shortly after, she got furious and her face glowed red. Her voice was loud enough for us to hear…

'You have not heard the last of me, you hear? I will come after you!' She stomped off.

Koizumi and I avoided from being seen by Haruhi as she passed us. Then we approached the student council president.

'Not again.' he scoffed.

'I take you rejected Ms Suzumiya's request to re-establish the SOS brigade?' Koizumi asked.

'Correct.'

'Even if she offered to vacate her position as the brigade leader?'

'Correct.'

'What do you have against her? This sounds like something personal.'

'I told you never to speak to me again. Didn't I?'

'I have no interest in speaking with you either, but we have business to conduct. If you don't want to resolve this through talking, how about we settle this with a fight. Today, 4:30 pm, after school, at the bamboo field down the street. If I win, you recognize the SOS brigade as a school club with the use of the literary club room. If you win, we promise to never bring this up ever again.'

'Why should I accept the fight?'

'Because you owe me a fair fight. You injured me and I did not have a chance to return the favor.'

'Ha! So what? I am the student council president and it is within my power to disband the club and that is that. This conversation is over! Step aside for I will hate to have to -'

'...hit me? See - the way things are going now, we will clash one way or another. Just give me the fight, and let's not do it here and now with people around. You can name your condition if I lose. Unless you are afraid you will lose.'

That sort of got his interest. He thought for a moment, then said, 'Very well then. I want you to leave this school and quit the organization if you lose.'

'Okay. I accept.' Koizumi said without hesitation.

'I will make you regret this.' He walked away confidently.

Koizumi said to me, 'Well, the game is on. You remember what I told you to do?'

I said yes, I'd make the arrangements, but I couldn't shake the thought of how high the stakes had become.

First thing was to talk to Haruhi in the classroom I had to convince Haruhi that the student council president just spoke with me, and he had changed his mind. Since I knew she already spoke with him, unsuccessfully, I included it into my story by saying he sensed her sincerity with her apology (minus the screaming near the end), and decided that he was willing to reconcile. He saw our movie production from the last Cultural Festival and he would like to be cast as the main villain in the next movie. He wanted screen time but most importantly, being a fan of esper shows, he wanted full control over the choreography for the final battle scene against Koizumi. He specifically requested that Haruhi not to be at the shooting, as he felt threatened by her (conveniently explained as also the reason why he disbanded the SOS brigade in the first place). I continued by saying he was ready and he wanted to shoot the fight scene in the afternoon. It would have realistic esper-style battling scene, and I was worried that the president would be going all out and Koizumi might get hurt. I handed the camcorder to her and asked her to give the blessing to go ahead with the filming. She was surprised how convenient that I had the camcorder with me, but the idea of getting the SOS brigade back and getting back at the embarrassment she suffered from the student council president quickly put her in a cooperative mood.

'OK. bring me back awesome esper-battle footage with it (camcorder). Tell Koizumi to go all out with his esper powers against that no good student council president.'

That should do it for the first part. I'd take care of the second part during lunch break.

* * *

The time had arrived for the showdown. I was getting worried again, I couldn't help it. My hands were sweating. What if my sweat shorted the camcorder and changed the future, and everything went to hell?

The bamboo field where Haruhi pulled one for Tanabata was a beautiful field for a fight. Perhaps we should give them some samurai swords - it would look really awesome with them striking samurai poses, slicing bamboos and watching the cut portions sliding down diagonally still staying upright... Never mind that, we just wanted this over with. It's good Haruhi wasn't here, because she'd probably come up with crazy ideas like this along the shoot.

'Are you ready, Koizumi?'

Koizumi fixed his hair and said, 'Ready.'

I turned on the camcorder, and began the recording, then followed Koizumi into the bamboo field to meet the student council president, who was already there. Koizumi stopped about 30 feet away.

The president saw me, and asked, 'Are you recording?'

'Yes, we are shooting it for a movie.' Koizumi said.

The president laughed. 'I thought you would be bringing some real weapons. You seriously plan to judo-chop to victory? Are you trying to film me using my power and use it to blackmail me? Looks like you folks are spending way too much time with Haruhi Suzumiya, her corrupt thinking had spread to her cronies. No matter, record while you can. I am just going to beat Koizumi, then I'll beat you (pointing at me) and take the camcorder.'

'Sure, but please let our cameraman get to a good position.' Koizumi said.

I moved to the spot I needed to be, then said, 'Koizumi, go all out on him.'

The president, posing cool like someone in an esper manga, conjured up a red energy ball the size of a tennis ball, and without hesitation, fired at Koizumi. Koizumi, doing his cool dodging maneuver while zigzagging between the bamboo trees, avoided getting hit by it.

A bamboo trees took the damage from a second energy ball the president fired, who apparently could become quite talkative when he was overconfident. He said, 'You think the bamboo trees would give you an advantage? I'll just use smaller ones! It will hurt just as bad!' He held out his hands in front of him, fingers spread wide. Energy 'bullets' appeared in front of his fingertips and sped towards Koizumi.

Koizumi was quick on his feet dodging the 'bullets' without attacking. The president fired several more rounds as Koizumi kept making his way towards the president - as if he could read the president's move.

'You try to tire me out or something? It won't work.'

Koizumi got within striking distance, but the president was prepared. He moved his hands together and within split-second created a volleyball-sized energy ball, and fired it at Koizumi.

It's too close to dodge.

*Bam*

Koizumi generated a force field with his left hand and blocked the energy ball. The president did not anticipate the counterattack and the colliding force pushed him backwards. Not allowing the president time to process what just happened, Koizumi immediately generated his own orange energy ball the size of a volleyball with his right hand and swung it at the president. The president desperately tried to block it with his left arm, and the clothes on his left arm was scorched. He then jumped backwards and kept a safe distance from Koizumi.

'So… you have actually come prepared. But how?'

'Lucky you. I am still new to my powers, or else I would have taken you out in one move.'

'You are beginning to piss me off.'

'I'm counting on it.'

I had to say, Koizumi's move was pretty impressive. Offense and defense in one move. What the president didn't know, however, was that during the time Koizumi reviewed the recording, he told me he noticed his facial expression when he created the energy ball. Koizumi said he made that face when he fought the giants only when he was at his limits. Darn it, I wished he would tell me what his trump card was, or at least, what he thought his trump card was.

The president stood up straight and patted his left sleeve. It did not appear he's hurt. 'Well, you've lost your element of surprise. I guess this is it for you.'

'Don't be cocky.'

The president's back on the offense. He fired several dozens of needle-like beams at Koizumi - similar to what Asakura did when she tried to kill me. Koizumi created a force field with one hand and dodged them all, then created a volleyball-sized energy ball with the other. If this happened in a movie where lives were not at stack, I could have enjoyed this.

The president laughed, 'Same attack? You lack imagination!'

Pulling off another surprise move, Koizumi fired the energy ball to the opposite direction of where the president was. He turned the wrist of the same hand, and snapped the fingers. The energy ball vanished and reappeared behind the president just inches away. It struck him on the back of his head as he fell to the ground face first. Super awesome.

I could have been more surprised had I had not seen it before. So far the battle sequence was on the recording from the camcorder the elder Ms Asahina brought back from the future. Koizumi and I _knew_ that move would work - we just did not know how to explain it in science terms.

The president was a bit shaken from this. A moment ago he thought Koizumi was a pushover, now he realized Koizumi could actually fight. He got up slowly, then looked up at me. He figured out that the camcorder was not just for filming. He said, 'I see. That's how it's done.' We _knew_ this part too.

That's right, the _magical_ camcorder. Just as Haruhi 'wished' Ms Asahina's color contact lens could shoot laser beam, we had Haruhi 'wished' the camcorder would give Koizumi esper power in the real world - all in the name of making a movie. I wondered why Haruhi would not let Koizumi conjure something much more powerful and knocked out the enemy with one move. Perhaps she secretly wished for a more intriguing way to defeat the enemy?

The student council president dashed towards me with his arm raised. An energy ball began to form. Koizumi called to me, 'Watch out!' and conjured up an energy ball himself, running towards me.

This would be the last action sequence from our movie stars on the recording. Time for me began to slow down. What would happen next? The adult Ms Asahina said I gave the camcorder to her, right? So I did get out of this alive, right? But what if I was dying when I gave it to her? She never said whether I made it out alive! What if my job was just to make sure we got the SOS brigade back? I stood there frozen like a deer in front of headlights. Oh dear -

The energy ball was within 3 feet from my face and I could feel the heat from it… Instinctively and seemingly in slow motion my body began to turn to the right as my left arm move up to try to protect me from the impact.

A white flash of light came blasted from my left side, blocking the energy ball, missing my left hand, and slicing nearly a third of the front of the camcorder off. It also nearly took my right pinky with it.

And there stood Nagato. She was here. Ms Kimidori was also here, standing in a distance.

The president jumped backwards, turned to check if Koizumi's still charging. Koizumi had actually stopped - Neither he nor I expected Nagato would appear.

...Koizumi's energy ball was still in his hand.

...The president noticed the energy ball as well.

Nagato said, 'Itsuki Koizumi, you have to finish this now.'

Koizumi appeared to have trouble maintaining the energy ball in his hand.

The president pointed his finger at Nagato and said, 'You two stay out of this.' His eyes began to flicker, his head twitched in strange ways. The fact that Nagato and Ms Kimidori were both here, the way he told them off, and the way his eyes flickered like a broken television, pretty much confirmed what Koizumi and I suspected all along - the Data Integration Thought Entity was involved.

Nagato said again in an alarming tone, 'Itsuki Koizumi. Now.' Why didn't she do it instead?

The president's eyes stopped flickering. He turned his head towards his left and looked into a distance. He figured it out - there's a second camcorder. He dashed towards the direction he was looking at. Koizumi fired his energy ball trying to stop him, but missed.

Nagato remained still and said, 'Unexpected event in progress. Risk level is now high.'

The president's heading towards where Ms Asahina was.


	7. Chapter 7

The student council president charged towards where Ms Asahina's was hiding and Koizumi was too slow to catch up. He motioned his left hand as if he was about to catch a foul ball or something.

I did the only thing I could. 'Nagato, please help Ms Asahina!' I said desperately.

Nagato looked at me. For a split second I thought I saw hesitation. She looked up, mumbled something very fast, and the president stopped running like a hound losing track of his prey.

Koizumi had caught up and threw a punch - really, Koizumi? The president easily avoided it with an acrobatic flip, breaking a few bamboo trees and landed 15 feet away. He stood for a moment as Nagato and I caught up with them.

He said to Koizumi, 'Fine. You can keep your power, I don't care. I know those pathetic energy balls are all that you are capable of creating. You cannot defeat me.'

He moved his hands in front, produced a bright and colorful energy ball. It kept expanding until its diameter was about 5 feet wide. 'Let's finish this,' he said.

Koizumi conjured an energy ball the size of a tennis ball with his right hand. It was pitch black and it looked like a tiny black hole. He replied, 'Well, let's do it.'

I looked at Nagato again - was she not going to get involved?

The student council president charged at Koizumi with his giant energy ball.

Koizumi lowered his head, flashed a smile of confidence, might have whispered the words 'Got ya,' and charged ahead.

They were within a few feet of each other when Koizumi suddenly stopped, and snapped his fingers on his left hand. The giant energy ball the president created disappeared and reappeared a couple inches above him, hitting him hard and his pretty face got smashed into the ground again. He was out.

Koizumi stood there, victorious, and to top things off for the future audience, he blew at his energy ball used as decoy and it dissipated.

Ms Kimidori stepped in and declared, 'It's over.' With that, she mumbled something fast like Nagato, and the student council president began to evaporate. Meanwhile, Nagato mumbled again. It's all pretty freaky.

As Ms Kimidori turned to leave, I asked, 'Ms Kimidori, are you going to explain what this is all about?'

She smiled and said, 'I'm sure you can get all the details from Ms Nagato. My only job here is done. I thank all of you for helping.'

Koizumi said, 'Wait a second. Has he always been a humanoid interface? That cannot be.'

Ms Kimidori said, 'No. The real one has been in hypersleep for the past week. I'll return him to his home shortly.'

Ms Asahina, who had been in hiding, walked towards us still holding the camcorder that came from the future. 'Is everything over now?'

Koizumi said, 'Yes, it's all over. You may stop recording now. Thank you.'

He continued, 'While I am very curious about the details, I think I should stop by and check on the real president and make sure he's alright. He appears to be a victim of alien cruel play, and I feel somewhat responsible for it. Talk to you all later.'

Ms Asahina, probably sensed the awkwardness between Nagato and me, handed me the camcorder and excused herself. 'See you at school tomorrow!' She said in a comforting tone.

Nagato and I stood in the bamboo tree field silently for a minute. I could hear the bamboo leaves rustling.

'You know about everything?' I finally asked.

'I know about everything.'

'Since the beginning?''

'Yes.'

'You kept it secret from all of us.'

She nodded and said, 'I am not allowed to give out information freely. However, I answered questions from you and Itsuki Koizumi truthfully whenever I can.'

She did confirm there was no external force at play. That helped us deduced the president's power was not esper power, which in turn pointing to the Data Integration Thought Entity as the most likely culprit behind all of this.

'So it was an exercise created by the the Data Integration Thought Entity?'

'Yes.'

I shook my head and said, 'This is crazy. It was so dangerous.'

'Before the plan was set in motion, the Data Integration Thought Entity ran risk analysis millions of times and had determined that the risk was very low.'

'The risk was considered low when Haruhi was alone in the closed space and I needed a miracle to get her out?'

'It was not a miracle. You have proven to be very reliable in handling difficult situations. You had escaped the closed space before. You stopped the endless Summer time loop. You fixed the timeline after I created an alternate world.'

I was getting a bit mad, and said, 'None of that was easy. I don't like it when you expect so much from me, and you say it like you don't think you are expecting much.'

She had no response to that. I realized I said something hypocritical. Nagato might have all sorts of power, and I was always expecting so much of her as if it wasn't much. Still, I almost got killed, Koizumi and Ms Asahina were all in real danger moments ago, I was confused, and frustrated by her overly-calm tone over something very serious; I was not ready to be polite.

'The fight… How was the risk low? Are you saying you could have stopped the president anytime?'

'Originally, yes. But… no.'

'...What does that mean? Is it realistic to say there's a chance Koizumi, Ms Asahina and I could have been killed?'

'The original risk calculated was low. I -'

I was sick of the 'risk is low' response and I lost it, 'You do not put your friends at risk no matter how low the risk is!'

So I finally let out my frustration, and the sense of guilt quickly took over. I should not have yelled at her. That was wrong. Deep down, I knew it was not her fault. I looked at her face - if there's ever a hurt expression on her face, that would be it, as if it was saying, you're supposed to understand -

'Sorry Nagato. I... am so, so sorry. I am sure you have your reasons.' She's probably under the order of the Data Integration Thought Entity. She's torn between following orders from her superior and staying true to her human friends.

She continued, 'The main faction of the Data Integration Thought Entity still believes in a general hands-off policy, with my order to protect you and Haruhi Suzumiya remains unchanged. However, recent events with Sasaki, the Heaven Canopy and others had led them to believe a push towards a mature Haruhi Suzumiya would be essential for her to handle more difficult challenges in the future. They created a scenario where the SOS brigade got disbanded. The student council president replica would replace the original for a week, disband the SOS brigade, and give Haruhi Suzumiya an opportunity to reflect and grow during that time. After that the replica would be erased, and when the original student council president returned, he would remove the ban. The Data Integration Thought Entity ran the outcome analysis millions of iterations and concluded an end-of-world scenario was below 0.002% and a life-loss scenario was below 0.01%, such outcomes were largely due to unexpected external events like an earthquake or a car accident. However, the risk analysis failed to consider the possibility of the replica becoming self-aware and rewriting his code to set up protective measures against our access to his erase program. When Kimidori failed to access his erase program after he was knocked down the first time, we realized what he had done, and a physical approach to stop him was needed.' That was the time when Nagato urged Koizumi to finish him off.

Nagato looked into my eyes and continued, '... I would disobey my orders and intervene when absolutely necessary to ensure no harm would come to Itsuki Koizumi and Mikuru Asahina.'

She made me feel even worse now.

'Uh, what exactly were the orders?'

'I was given orders to keep the specifics of the plan from everyone, as well as not to protect Itsuki Koizumi and Mikuru Asahina from danger.'

'Why?'

'To repay for the embarrassment I had caused when I stole Haruhi Suzumiya's power and changed the world.' I should have guessed, but I thought I made it perfectly clear to the Data Integration Thought Entity that I would not tolerate Nagato be punished in any way... so instead of punishing her, they gave her ridiculous orders to follow.

'Why would they not let you protect Koizumi and Ms Asahina? What do they have against them?'

'Recent events had introduced new factions to the Data Integration Thought Entity. Itsuki Koizumi and Mikuru Asahina represent their factions and each faction has its own agendas. These factions are bound to clash with each other again. The Data Integration Thought Entity reviewed the data collected so far and had determined it had insufficient data to decide which factions it should be friends or enemies with, consequently decided to stay neutral. As I have said earlier, Itsuki Koizumi and Mikuru Asahina are important to me. They are my allies, and I will risk my existence to save them.'

Oh Nagato, I felt so guilty. Koizumi and I decided to 'keep her in the dark' after we suspected that the Data Integration Thought Entity and/or Nagato was behind it. I should have never doubted her.

I gave her a hug and told her, 'Thank you Nagato. I am so sorry for saying mean things to you. I want you to remember though - your life is just as important as anyone's in the group to me. Together we can overcome everything.' Her body was so tiny compared to mine.

She held me back and said, 'Thank you. I hope so.'

* * *

That night Koizumi informed everyone that the SOS brigade was again a school club with access to the literary club room. The next day after school we were back in the literary club room, with most of our stuff brought back. Haruhi was delayed, called up to the student council president's office to re-file some nonsense paperwork so as to make her feel official. Everyone else had gathered in the club room. Nagato was sitting in the corner reading. Ms Asahina, dressed in her maid costume, was making tea. Koizumi just sat at his usual chair looking relieved. I ceremoniously powered up the computer, and the website was back online for our diehard fans.

As Ms Asahina was about to pour tea, Koizumi stood up and asked her to take a seat. He poured tea into 3 cups, then he walked over to Ms Asahina.

'Ms Asahina, thank you for everything that you've done for me. You have probably saved my life.'

'Uh, really? I don't know about that. But thank you.' Ms Asahina accepted the tea, blushed and smiled sweetly. I told Koizumi about adult Ms Asahina and it was she who returned the camcorder to me as promised, which ensured us the best chance we could have to win. Although, this Ms Asahina did not know about the trip to the past yet.

He then walked over to Nagato and said, 'Ms Nagato, Kyon told me about everything. Thank you for stepping in yesterday. If you didn't, I might have to pull my trump card to help Ms Asahina, and the fight might not have ended the way I hoped for. It's been an honor to have you as an ally, please accept my gratitude.'

She nodded, never the one to brag.

He then handed the last cup to me. 'Have a cup.' And he walked away.

That's actually pretty funny he decided to skip thanking me. Good old Koizumi.

I said, 'Hey Koizumi, where's your maid outfit?'

Koizumi said, 'Oh? Is that some kind of fetish you have with me?'

I regretted teasing him, 'Shut up!'

'Wait, I haven't thanked you for rubbing oil on my stomach yet.' He stood up and bowed. Ms Asahina was giggling.

Let me die.

He sat down and said, 'Actually, I do have to thank you. Thanks for bringing Ms Suzumiya back from the closed space. Just when we thought all hopes were lost, you did it.'

I was pretty proud of it myself. I might not have the power like this lot, but I had done things these weren't able to. 'All hopes were lost, huh?' I said, 'I suppose... sometimes you have to lose…' I then remembered what the adult Ms Asahina told me a few days ago. I shook my head and smile. 'Never mind,' I added.

I switched topic and said, 'Oh, Ms Asahina, thank you for being the second cameraman yesterday. I am sorry we put you in danger. We didn't know he could sense where you were.'

'There is no problem. I am glad to be helpful.'

Yesterday at lunch time, I went to Ms Asahina and gave her the camcorder from the future - which was enchanted a long time ago and was then brought back to our time, repaired. I told her to hide somewhere far away from the fight, and began recording just seconds before the student council president charged towards me. The camcorder from the future was still able to grant Koizumi esper power in real life, as Haruhi never 'un-wished' it away.

Koizumi asked, 'Kyon, do you recall what Ms Suzumiya said exactly about the power given to me when the camcorder was filming? Would I still be able to use those powers?' He did a finger snap.

'You are out of luck. Haruhi gave very specific instructions. Your power was only good against the student council president.'

'Actually, that's a relief.'

'When you said you were going to pull the trump card to save Ms Asahina, did you mean you could teleport yourself to catch up by snapping your fingers or something?'

'It was in the middle of a fight so yes, that was what I was thinking about. Had he found out that I could open a portal for something or someone other than my tiny energy balls to go through, he might figure out that I could use his energy ball against him, and I was counting on him creating something lethal. I couldn't say why Ms Suzumiya wouldn't grant me more powerful moves, but she sure loves a close game more than the a one-sided game. Although, once Ms Nagato protected Ms Asahina, I knew Ms Nagato would have my back also if I needed it.'

Something uneasy just came to mind. Nagato told me she was not allowed to protect Koizumi and Ms Asahina, but she did something for Ms Asahina. Perhaps a force field? I looked at Nagato. Would she get into trouble for that? I felt like getting her a cup of tea too, but that would be awkward after Koizumi pulled the move.

I turned to Ms Asahina and gave her a box with the damaged camcorder in it, and said, 'Ms Asahina, please keep this camcorder with you for now. Promise to return it to me on the night the SOS brigade got disbanded.''

She looked puzzled, 'Should I go back now?'

I said, 'No… Actually it'll need to be repaired first. The technology to repair the kind of damage it has does not exist yet. So, wait until the time is right, okay?'

'Oh, okay. I promise.'

Nagato lifted her head and asked, 'Would you want me to repair it?'

I said, 'No… the cosmetic blemishes on the camcorder suggests that it is to be repaired in the future. Let's leave the history intact.'

I continued, 'Hey Nagato. So... the Data Integration Thought Entity can create human replicas? Do they do that often?'

'This is the first. A humanoid interface template like myself is built, and the human subject's memory gets extracted and imported to the replica's central processing unit. While we anticipated the possibility of him tapping into his defensive program and used concentrated energy as weapon, we did not anticipate that he was able to advance beyond our ability to access his erase program. Only after Koizumi weakened him then his erase program was left unguarded.'

'But Nagato. He spoke and acted emotionally. I thought the humanoid interface could not comprehend emotions.'

'Performing acts that appear emotional does not require understanding of emotions.'

'So they are just programmed reactions?'

'Correct.'

Nagato probably could choose to appear friendlier, like Asakura and Kimidori, but chose not to bother with the facade.

Haruhi had finally arrived.

'Hello!' She was excited as if it was the first day we assembled. She handed a large envelope to Koizumi and said, 'Koizumi, I had all the evidence returned to me. Please destroy it at the earliest.'

'Aye, aye,' Koizumi said, always ready to serve his master.

She gave me a dirty look, 'Obviously someone claimed to have deleted the Mikuru cosplay pictures and DID NOT.'

'Urk!' I said.

She was in a forgiving mood as she moved on and said, 'Can I see the footage now? Koizumi, did you kick his ass?'

'Yes ma'am, and we even added the special effects.'

Koizumi handed the camcorder (from the future) to Haruhi, and she noticed the cut mark on the camcorder. 'What happened to it?' She's looking at me. Oh, right, she thought I was the only cameraman - she did not know Ms Asahina was the one using that unit.

'Scratched it up a bit. My bad.'

Haruhi was extremely impressed by the 'special effects'. She was surprised the president was willing to hit the ground twice. I said it was his way to make peace with Haruhi.

'Wow, this is pretty awesome! Excellent job!' I especially love the part where he ran towards the camcorder and Yuki fought him off being shot from two different angles… How was that done? Did you record the same scene twice or did you borrow a second camcorder?'

Oh no, the details… we forgot to remove the footage that overlapped. I checked the segment she was referring to - the part Ms Asahina shot. I was not visible from the shot because I was blocked from view by the bamboo trees from that angle; only Nagato was visible.

'Yes, we shot the sequence twice.' I lied.

She continued, 'Hmm, but why did he turn away from Koizumi during the fight, then ran off again towards another direction? Guess I'll just have to add some context to it myself. Oh, I get it! He saw Yuki's evil witch character and realized she's turned to the good side, so he attacked her but her newfound good witch power was too awesome! Then he spotted Mikuru the battle maid from a distance, so he went after her instead! Oh yes, he pretended to be an esper but in fact he was Yuki's alien boss! How's that for a plot twist? Gosh, there's so much left to do! We need story lines, artistic visuals, intriguing dialogues, additional action sequences, explosions...'

It was nice to see her returning to her normal self. I lost track of what she's saying and drifted into my thoughts. I stared at Haruhi's exciting face and wondered, did the Data Integration Thought Entity accomplish what they set out to do? Was she stabler? She had apologized and took responsibility, something I had never seen her done before. Was it worth the risk? We now knew it was a setup, and that the student council president replica was to be removed in a week, perhaps we could have avoided the confrontations. Still, we knew Koizumi, Ms Asahina and I had agreed to take action, or else we would not have the video brought back from the future. Were our actions meaningless then? I didn't know for certain. Perhaps the student council president replica refused to be deleted and Nagato and Ms Kimidori would be unable to remove him, causing more unexpected events. All we could do was to trust ourselves in making the honest decisions, and whatever the outcome, we had to live with it.

THE END

* * *

Author's comment: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. If you do, please continue to the next story - The Replacement of Yuki Nagato


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